Category: Society

I woke up this morning bright-eyed and ready to face the day. I live on one of those typical narrow inner-city streets in Stockholm, where the tall buildings line either side. The street is so narrow that you can see straight into each others flats and almost see what your neighbours are having for dinner. I live high up on the 6th floor so I have the great fortune to see the sky and over the snowy rooftops and ridges of the buildings opposite. They are beautiful turn-of-the-century buildings and the towering chimneys evoke a strong 1800’s feeling.

This morning, after I’d got out of bed, I whipped open my blinds to let in the light. To my surprise on the rooftop opposite were 5 snow-busters, busy pushing down the heavy snow that was ladening the roof. The swiftness of my blinds opening must have caught their attention. Two of them looked up and right into my bedroom like peeping toms. It was almost as though I wanted to wave. I admit I felt embarrassed. I felt exposed.

Thank god I wasn’t naked – for their sake.

A friend of mine has a 5 year old daughter, currently attending day care in Stockholm. It’s fascinating to talk to her and to see how cultural norms and values are instilled in us right from an early age.

Swedish day care, like many others around the world, is about teaching children social skills, the rights and wrongs of society and what is acceptable behaviour. And this particular little girl has learned all of that. She shows respect to others. She understands the concept of turn-taking. When she grows up she doesn’t want to be a Nazi.

One evening she was playing a game with her mother, and she won fair and square. But she wanted to back-track and do it again so that she didn’t hurt her mother’s feelings. Her mother, an American, said that it was ok and that she had won rightfully. This 6 year old Swedish girl then said, ‘But at daycare, we all win.’

The Swedish values of equality, modesty and a touch of envy are all represented in this statement. It’s the participation that’s important, not the winning. No one person should win, but everyone is a winner because they contributed. Cultural indoctrination starts early and we see this particular cultural characteristic everywhere in Swedish society. In the concensus decision-making. In the fact that bragging is seen as unattractive. In the acceptance that being average (lagom) is ok, or even something to strive for.

Don’t get me wrong. I fully support the philosophy that participating is valuable. But winning is also strengthening. For the individual and the group.

Now, thankfully not everyone in any single culture follows the national tendencies. There are always individuals who deviate. And when enough people deviate, that is when the cultural norm shifts.

At the Winter Olympics, Sweden fights along side many nationalities for a place on the podium. While other countries may win more medals, Sweden does succeed in an occasional gold. Yesterday, Charlotte Kalla won a gold medal for cross-country skiing.

I’m sure that no matter how much she thought that participating was great, winning gold must have felt even better.

One of the great Swedish values is that of equality. In comparison to other cultures, Sweden has probably come the furthest in terms of equality between the sexes.

Sweden, obviously, isn’t alone in believing in equality. Many other cultures believe it too. What is interesting is how equality is demonstrated in society. In other cultures equality might be demonstrated by positive discrimination of women for top management postions. It might be demonstrated by the way in which domestic roles are divided up. It might be demonstrated in the bedroom.

In Sweden, however equality is demonstrated in a different way. Here, it is a sense that everyone is the same as everyone else.

To help this, most Swedes have the same surnames, eg Svensson, Nilsson, Andersson, Persson. They earn roughly the same amount of money after tax. They have the same taste in furniture. They watch Melodifestival on Saturday nights in February. They dress alike and think alike. They socialise on Facebook and Twitter. They recycle. And, most tellingly, they go to Thailand in the winter.

Equality, Swedish style.

In the world of cultural theory, there are many surveys carried out to try to charter the cultural tendencies of the different nationalities. One such survey tries to document what personal qualities Swedes believe they have, what they prioritise and how they want to see the future at work and in Sweden. It is a survey in which Swedes themselves reveal their own perceptions on what it is to be Swedish.

Foreigners living in Sweden – please check this top-ten list of values and see whether it matches your own experience of Sweden and the Swedes. Is it an accurate perception or is it a case of wishful thinking?

Top Ten Swedish Values

1) Honesty
2) Responsibility
3) Justice
4) Humour
5) Happiness
6) Togetherness
7) Meaningfulness
8) Involvement
9) Teamwork
10) Adaptability

‘Jantelagen’ is the ten commandments of envy. It was created by Aksel Sandemose, a Danish author, in the 1930’s.

1. You shall not think you are anything
2. You shall not think you are as good as us
3. You shall not think you are cleverer than us
4. You shall not think you are better than us
5. You shall not think you know more than us
6. You shall not think you are superior to us
7. You shall not think you are good enough for anything
8. You shall not laugh at us
9. You shall not think that anyone cares about you
10. You shall not think you can teach us anything

Sounds exactly like my methodist upbringing in the North-East of England. Spooky!

In the paper today, it was reported that Nordmaling local authority in the north of Sweden is starting a project to deal with ‘Jantelagen’.

‘Jantelag’ is something similar to tall poppy syndrome in the UK. It’s a behaviour where members of a society oppress each other with negative attitudes such as ‘don’t think you’re important – because you’re not’, and ‘he’s too big for his boots’.

This kind of behaviour isn’t specific to the north of Sweden, or Sweden in particular, but is quite common in small, closely-knit societies where the values of the collective outweigh the freedoms of the individual.

It seems like Nordmaling has received 600 000 sek from the EU to investigate this problem. They’re going to hire a project leader and call them a ‘Jante warrior’. This warrior will work for 1 year with children, business people and students with a variety of activities such as stand-up comedy, theatre, discussion fora. The aim is to raise awareness for the harmful effect that Jantelagen has on the development of the region and the individual residents.

Seriously, who the hell does Nordmaling council they think they are?